Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Rohingya: Refugees

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will consider increasing their funding for the World Food Programme to enable the Programme to restore its monthly food vouchers for Rohingya refugees to the full value of 12.50 US dollars.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The UK prioritised food provision in its Rohingya response programme in 2023, providing £14.8m of food support in Cox's Bazar delivered by the World Food Programme and other UN agencies. Food rations were increased in January 2024. The UK was the second largest bilateral donor to the food response in Cox's Bazar in 2023. We will continue to prioritise food support in our future response.

Foreign Relations: Scotland

Lord Foulkes of Cumnock: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the decision of the Scottish First Minister to invite a foreign head of government to a meeting where no official of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is present.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Following a meeting between the Scottish First Minister and the Turkish President, which took place without an FCDO official being present, the Foreign Secretary wrote to Scottish Cabinet Secretary Robertson. He made it clear that the Scottish Government must respect the relevant protocols for the overseas visits of devolved Government Ministers, for continued FCDO facilitation. We remain open to discussing a constructive way forward, but the UK's foreign policy must be communicated consistently and coherently to our international partners.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: China

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Foreign Secretary intends to visit China; and if so, (1) what assessment they have made of the achievements of the previous visit by a Foreign Secretary in August 2023, and (2) whether he will raise (a) the government of China’s treatment of the Uyghurs, (b) the erosion of democracy and imprisonment of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, (c) the sanctioning of UK parliamentarians by the government of Hong Kong, and (d) the government of China’s threats against Taiwan.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We consistently raise China's human rights violations, sanctions against UK parliamentarians and our objection to the erosion of rights and freedoms in Hong Kong with the Chinese authorities; most recently the Foreign Secretary did so with Wang Yi during their call on 5 December. On 17 December, the Foreign Secretary also called for the repeal of the National Security Law and an end to the prosecution of all individuals under it. We consider the Taiwan issue one to be settled peacefully by the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait through constructive dialogue, without the threat or use of force or coercion. For future Ministerial visits - human rights remain a key component of our advocacy.

Falkland Islands: Security

Lord Wigley: To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of Argentina on the future security of the Falkland Islands.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: As fellow G20 members, we look forward to developing a strong and constructive relationship under the Presidency of Javier Milei. When the Minister for the Americas met President Milei at his inauguration, he made clear that the UK has no doubt about our sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and surrounding maritime areas. We are committed to defending proactively the Falkland Islanders' right of self-determination; this is not something we will ever be prepared to negotiate on.

Shoaib Bashir

Lord Sedwill: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made any representations to the government of India about the delay in the issue of a visa to the England cricketer, Shoaib Bashir.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The specifics of this case are a matter for Shoaib Bashir and the Indian Government. We absolutely expect India to treat British citizens fairly at all times in its visa process. The UK Government cannot interfere in the immigration system of another country, but our relationship with India means that where we have concerns we raise them. We note Mr. Bashir's arrival in India ahead of the second test match.

Saudi Arabia: Capital Punishment

Lord Jackson of Peterborough: To ask His Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Saudi Arabia regarding the recent executions in 2022 and 2023 in that country which were allegedly based on political background or affiliation to the Shia sect.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Saudi Arabia is well aware of the UK's opposition to the death penalty in all countries and in all circumstances, as a matter of principle. We regularly raise concerns about its use and Saudi Arabia is a FCDO Human Rights Priority Country, in part because of the continued use of the death penalty. The Minister for the Middle East and Human Rights, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon regularly discusses a wide range of human rights issues with the Saudi authorities, including on interfaith and the death penalty.

Treasury

Public Expenditure

Lord Wigley: To ask His Majesty's Government how much finance, other thanthat provided under the Barnett formula, was made available to (1) Wales, (2) Scotland, and (3) Northern Ireland, in each of the past three financial years.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The UK Government makes available significant funding across the UK to meet UK-wide policy objectives. The Government spends across the UK on all reserved policy areas (such as national security and the honours system), and provides direct support for people and businesses in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. HM Treasury does not have a single figure to quantify the total level of support provided across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as there are multiple programmes funded by various departments. However, the ONS Country and Regional Analysis publication presents estimates for the allocation of identifiable expenditure between the UK countries and nine English regions. It is for the devolved administrations to decide how to allocate their funding in devolved areas. The published Statement of Funding policy document sets out how the devolved administrations are funded, including Barnett-based funding and agreed borrowing and tax powers. The Block Grant Transparency publication breaks down all changes in the devolved administrations’ block grant funding from the 2015 Spending Review up to and including Main Estimates 2023-24. This publication is updated regularly, and the most recent report was published in July 2023.

Inflation: Economic Situation

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to mitigate the potential negative impact of the United Kingdom’s current inflation rates on the economy.

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: The government has delivered on the Prime Minister’s pledge to halve inflation, which is now at 4.0%, and the OBR expect inflation to return to target in 2025. High inflation holds back growth, which is why alongside remaining steadfast in support for the independent Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England, as it acts to return inflation sustainably to the 2% target, the government has taken tough decisions to keep borrowing under control and introduced ambitious supply-side measures to support non-inflationary growth, including delivering full expensing and boosting the labour supply. Over the last two years, the Government has provided one of the largest support packages in Europe. Taken together, total support over 2022-25 to help households with the high cost of living will be £104 billion – an average of £3,700 per UK household. This has helped to protect households, and the economy, from the impact of high inflation.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Lake Windermere: Pollution

Baroness Hayman of Ullock: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Douglas-Miller on 3 January (HL1212), what was the nature of the “learning” undertaken by and shared within the Environment Agency following its response to the pollution incident at Cunsey Beck, Windermere.

Lord Douglas-Miller: There was informative and useful advice in the Scottish Environment Protection Agency report. The specific improvements that the Environment Agency in Cumbria and Lancashire have looked to put in place when dealing with significant pollution incidents are:To consider and gather all potential witness information even in the event of no immediate polluter being identified.To ensure full consideration is applied to Environment Agency ecologist deployment and deliver best available practice in sampling.Where dead fish are present during an incident, logging more detail on specific locations and taking samples.During more significant investigations, ensure geographic representation of river locations where actions/observations/samples are made or taken.The above is in addition to an increased focus on the Environment Agency’s response to incidents affecting water quality. In March 2023, the Environment Agency launched a Regulatory Plan which sets out key actions for Windermere, placing regulation at the heart of its work to improve the water environment. These actions include monitoring trends and pollution hotspots, targeting efforts on reducing pollution sources and reviewing findings on a regular basis.The Environment Agency is also leading the Love Windermere partnership, a long-term initiative which brings together organisations committed to developing a science-based plan for the environmental protection of this iconic lake.

Department for Business and Trade

Trade

The Earl of Sandwich: To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to the proposal from the International Agreements Committee, set out in its letter to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, published on 23 March 2023, that the Department for Business and Trade should publish a trade policy framework, setting out strategic policies and objectives for trade negotiations, to facilitate better parliamentary scrutiny of all trade.

Lord Offord of Garvel: The Government communicates its trade strategy in publicly available documents: the Integrated Review Refresh, speeches and committee appearances, and our Export Strategy. Publishing a framework may risk revealing our positions, undermining our ability to negotiate effectively and therefore place UK businesses in an uncompetitive position.The Government is committed to providing updates to Parliament, which are also then available to the public. This information includes the Government’s strategic approach to free trade agreements, providing written updates after negotiating rounds, engaging with committees throughout negotiations, and in debates during Bill scrutiny. Ministers also provide information when answering written and oral questions.

EU Law

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to determine which European Union laws will be retained, reformed, or revoked under the plans set out in the Retained EU Law Parliamentary ReportJune 2023–December 2023, published on 22 January.

Lord Johnson of Lainston: The Department for Business and Trade coordinates Government's ambitious REUL reform programme. Departments review, assess and if needed consult relevant stakeholders to determine which pieces of REUL should be retained, reformed, or revoked, informed by considering what is in the best interests of the UK. In some cases, REUL is already optimised for the UK or is necessary to uphold our international obligations.Over 2000 REUL instruments have been revoked or reformed. Our roadmap includes 500 further REUL reforms and revocations in 2024. The Government is on track to revoke or reform over half of all REUL by June 2026.

Iron and Steel

Lord Wigley: To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the tonnage of coil and sheet steel (1) manufactured in, and (2) imported into, the UK in each of the past five years.

Lord Offord of Garvel: Coil and sheet steel, commonly known as flat steel, is predominantly manufactured by Tata Steel in the UK. Based on Companies House data (here), Tata Steel's production volumes are in the table below:YearProduction(Millions of Tonnes of Liquid Steel)17/183.618/193.219/203.520/213.421/223.5Spartan UK and Liberty Steel Dalzell also produce flat steel products, volumes for which are relatively small. Data made available through Companies House, however, are unavailable on a consistent and comparable basis with Tata Steel.Based on HMRC Trade Info (here), the figures for imports of flat steel products are in the table below:YearImports(Millions of Tonnes)20183.720193.420202.420213.120222.7Flat Steel products defined by HS Codes 7208-7212, 7219, 7220, 7225 and 7226.

Piracy: Red Sea

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support the manufacturing sector in the light of increased inflationary pressure as a result of supply disruptions in the Red Sea.

Lord Johnson of Lainston: The Department is monitoring the situation closely, engaging with businesses, stakeholders and across government to identify and mitigate supply chain issues. In November 2023 my department published our Advanced Manufacturing Plan which included measures to support the resilience of the UK’s manufacturing supply chain. More recently we published our Critical Import and Supply Chain Strategy, which will help build secure and reliable supply chains vital to the UK economy – including in advanced manufacturing. The Advanced Manufacturing Plan and our Critical Import and Supply Chain Strategy also build on our semiconductor, battery and critical minerals strategies.

Ministry of Justice

Private Prosecutions

Lord Stone of Blackheath: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to their response to the report from the House of Commons Justice Select Committee, Private prosecutions: safeguards (9thReport, Session 2019–21),in which they confirmed that a registry of private prosecutions would be made available, why this has not yet been made available; when this is expected to be made available; and how much taxpayer money was paid to legal firms prosecuting private prosecutions (other than legal aid) between 2015 and 2023.

Lord Stewart of Dirleton: In 2020, the Justice Select Committee (JSC) undertook a review of private prosecutions and provided nine recommendations.The Government agreed to two of these recommendations:To introduce a central register of private prosecutions;That we would take steps to ensure costs recoverable from central funds by a private prosecutor are limited in the same way as costs recoverable by an acquitted defendant.Private Prosecution RegisterIn the Government’s response to the JSC report, we agreed that a central register of private prosecutions would be introduced to include the names of the prosecutor and defendant, the offence in question, and whether the summons application was granted. This register was introduced by HMCTS in late 2021.The register is not publicly accessible, and it was neither a recommendation made by the JSC report nor an undertaking agreed by the Government for it to be. The register contains personal data including where people have been accused of crimes where the court found there were no grounds to commence a prosecution. The register is a court record and there are no grounds provided under rules of court, the Data Protection Act 2018 or the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for these personal details to be released to the public.Requests for non-personal information from the register are accessible through a Freedom of Information request to HMCTS.Cost of Private ProsecutionsThe Government has committed to bringing forward legislation to ensure costs recoverable from central funds by a private prosecutor are limited in the same way as costs recoverable by an acquitted defendant and will enact this when parliamentary time allows.The assessment of claims and payment of prosecutors’ costs out of central funds for cases brought in the magistrates’ court and Crown Court is undertaken by the Legal Aid Agency’s (LAA) Criminal Cases Unit (CCU) unless the court summarily assesses the claim under s.17(2B) of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985. Information about central funds expenditure, including private prosecutions, is published on a quarterly basis within the LAA’s official statistics. A copy of the relevant data is attached at Annex A.Other RecommendationsSir Wyn Williams’ Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry is examining, in detail, the failings that led to the Post Office scandal. It is possible that this will provide insight on the extent to which the private prosecution regime played a role in this particular injustice.The Government is, however, examining the wider question of private prosecutions and is therefore committed to looking again at the Justice Select Committee’s recommendations in their 2020 report as part of this work.HL1901_Annex_A (xlsx, 28.4KB)

Home Office

Asylum: Rwanda

The Lord Bishop of Bristol: To ask His Majesty's Government how many people who have arrived into the UK illegally since 1 January 2022 and who would therefore be eligible for removal to Rwanda have been referred to the National Referral Mechanism for modern slavery.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: The Home Office publishes statistics on detected irregular arrivals to the UK in the ‘Irregular migration to the UK statistics’ release on gov.uk. Data on NRM referrals from small boat arrivals and the outcomes of the NRM referrals is published in tables Irr_D04 and Irr_D05 respectively of the ‘Irregular migration to the UK detailed datasets’ with the latest data up to the end of May 2023.Information on NRM referrals from people who have arrived through other irregular routes is not published.Irregular migration datasets  (xlsx, 1241.7KB)

Asylum: Bibby Stockholm

The Lord Bishop of Chelmsford: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that residents on the Bibby Stockholm can access outside space and the surrounding community without requiring inspection by staff or the use of scanners each time.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: Those accommodated on the vessel are non-detained. However, movement in and around the Port will need to adhere to the health and safety requirements of the Port itself. Through our service supplier, the Home Office provides a bus service to take asylum seekers from the Port to destinations agreed with local agencies.

Sir Edward Heath

Lord Lexden: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks of Lord Sharpe of Epsom on 17 January (HL Deb col 466), whether the Home Secretary has had the opportunity to read the relevant section of Hansard for that date; and what was his response.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: Having considered the Hansard record of the debate of 17 January 2024 titled Sir Edward Heath: Operation Conifer, the Government has no plans to commission a review of either the conduct of the investigation into allegations made against Sir Edward Heath or the findings of that investigation. The Operation Conifer investigation has already been subject to considerable external scrutiny, and its Summary Closure Report emphasises that no inference of guilt should be drawn from the fact that, had he been alive, Sir Edward Heath would have been interviewed under caution concerning seven allegations to obtain his account of events.

Visas: Overseas Students

Lord Tyrie: To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the proportion of adult dependents of those on student visas who are in work.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: The Impact Assessment for the EU Withdrawal Bill estimated that of those non-EEA migrants that arrived in or after 2013 and who came to accompany and join, 41% were in employment.The Home Office continues to review the evidence around employment of dependants.

Visas: Students

Lord Tyrie: To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the proportion of those issued graduate visas in each of the years (1) 2021, (2) 2022 and (3) 2023 who (a) remain in the UK today, and (b) are expected to remain in the UK five years after their visa was first issued.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: The Home Office published an Impact Assessment in March 2021 prior to the introduction of the Graduate route, which can be found at this link: Impact Assessment template (publishing.service.gov.uk). In addition, the Home Office publishes Migrant journey statistics which look at how migrants’ leave status changes over time. Future updates to this should provide insights into what people on the Graduate route do after their leave has expired.

Visas: Afghanistan

Baroness Coussins: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answers byLord Sharpe of Epsom on 24 January (HL1408 and HL1409), how many visas for relocation to the United Kingdom have been issued since 8 November 2023 to Afghans eligible under(1) the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy, and (2) the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: The UK has made an ambitious and generous commitment to help at-risk people in Afghanistan and, so far, we have brought around 24,600 people to safety, including thousands of people eligible for our Afghan schemes. We continue to honour our commitments to bring eligible Afghans to the UK.The data published within the immigration system statistics release (month ending September 2023, published 23 November 2023) provides a breakdown of arrivals by quarter. The number of individuals resettled under the schemes is as follows: 11,684 individuals under ARAP, 9,699 individuals under ACRS Pathway 1, 70 individuals under ACRS Pathway 2 and 70 individuals under ACRS Pathway 3.Afghan operational data is viewable on Gov.UK.Afghan operational data is released quarterly with the next publication due around the 22 February 2024.

Visas: Overseas Students

Lord Tyrie: To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the proportion of those issued student visas in (1) 2018, (2) 2019, (3) 2020, (4) 2021, (5) 2022, and (6) 2023, who (a) remain in the UK today, and (b) are expected to remain in the UK five years after their visa was first issued.

Lord Tyrie: To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the proportion of those issued a visa as a dependent of a student in (1) 2018, (2) 2019, (3) 2020, (4) 2021, (5) 2022, and (6) 2023, who (a) remain in the UK today, and (b) are expected to remain in the UK five years after their visa was first issued.

Lord Sharpe of Epsom: The Home Office publishes data on how people move through the immigration system in the Migrant Journey report. The report contains information on the number of people starting a journey each year broken down by immigration route (e.g. study) and applicant type (e.g. dependant), and how long they continued to hold leave to remain in the UK. The latest report covers up to the end of 2022 and shows that for those who started their journey on a Study visa in 2017, 20% of main applicants and 26% of dependants held valid leave five years later. The report looks at periods when people held valid leave which does not necessarily mean they were in the UK.

Department for Transport

Tyne Bridge: Repairs and Maintenance

The Lord Bishop of Newcastle: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the £41.4 million funding they have promised for the restoration of the Tyne Bridge will be released in time for the works to completed for its centenary in 2028.

Lord Davies of Gower: I am delighted that the Roads Minister announced at the Tyne Bridge last Friday, 2 February, that the Full Business Case (FBC) for the Tyne Bridge and Central Motorway A167(M) Major Road Network scheme has been approved. The Department has agreed to provide an initial funding contribution of £35.2m towards an estimated total scheme cost of £41.4m. Following the Prime Minister’s announcement on Network North last autumn, our commitment to schemes in the Major Road Network programme has increased from 85% of cost, as estimated at the Outline Business Case stage, to up to 100%. We will announce shortly how individual schemes, including the Tyne Bridge, will benefit from this additional funding.

Railways: Fares

Baroness Randerson: To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to address the discrepancy in fares paid by rail passengers purchasing train tickets at vending machines compared with passengers using online retailers.

Lord Davies of Gower: Ticket Vending Machines are typically used to purchase low price, short distance fares on the day of travel, rather than advanced fares. We are working closely with industry to improve the rail retailing offer and make it quicker and more convenient for passengers to buy tickets, including by rolling out pilots on simpler fares and pay-as-you-go technology.

Railways: Staff

Baroness Thomas of Winchester: To ask His Majesty's Government what statistics they collect about staffing in the rail sector.

Lord Davies of Gower: Figures published by the Office of Rail and Road and Network Rail indicate that approximately 100,000 people were employed in the rail sector at the end of March 2023, with 62,000 full-time equivalent employees across Train Operating Companies and 40,000 in Network Rail. The Department for Transport also holds management information on the workforces within train operating companies. This is supplied in commercial confidence through a contractual requirement with service providers. Alternative estimates of people employed in transport related occupations and industries sourced from the Office of National Statistics’ Labour Force Survey and Annual Population Survey are also published in Transport Statistics Great Britain (Department for Transport)

Tankers: Insurance

Lord Empey: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessmentthey have made of the risk of (1) environmental, and (2) other, damage posed by the passage through or close to UK waters of uninsured oil tankers; and whether they will plan any measures to prevent potential damage and financial loss to the UK.

Lord Davies of Gower: The UK, together with international partners, has implemented extensive sanctions against Russia following its illegal invasion of Ukraine. These include sanctions which have targeted oil, Russia’s greatest source of revenue. Illegal circumvention of those sanctions is unacceptable, which is why the Government is seeking multilateral action through the International Maritime Organization (IMO), such as the recent resolution on ship-to-ship (STS) transfers at sea by the dark fleet, which was co-sponsored by the UK and other G7 nations to tackle the environmental risk. This resolution presents strong recommendations to improve awareness and monitoring of STS transfers in countries’ waters, stronger adherence to international regulations and conventions, and a greater awareness of the fraudulent and deceptive activities by vessels in the ‘dark fleet’. Through these actions, the Government intends to highlight on the global stage the illegality of Russia’s actions and reduce the pollution risk by outlining the strong response that will be delivered to violations of sanctions. Alongside this, the UK is a state party to the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds, which provides financial compensation for oil pollution damage that occurs in Member States resulting from spills of oil from tankers and includes situations where the oil tanker does not have valid insurance. The UK has well-established plans/protocols for the response to an oil spill. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is the National Competent Authority for at-sea pollution response. The MCA Counter Pollution and Salvage (CPS), under the direction of HM Coastguard, are custodians of the national pollution response resources which comprise specialist oil containment and recovery equipment and dispersant. These are supported by manned aircraft for spill surveillance, verification and quantification and a suite of aerial dispersant spraying capability. Personnel and resources are in place 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year and provide an incident management and response capability anywhere within the UK’s Exclusive Economic Zone. Regular exercises are undertaken to test national multi-agency spill response procedures. The MCA does not have responsibility for pollution response on the UK shoreline; this is vested in the local authorities and devolved nations. However, the MCA CPS will support pollution response along the UK shoreline using the other nationally held containment and recovery capability held in the stockpiles. Incident management, specialist response teams, and liaison personnel are also available. As with at-sea pollution response, regular engagement with local authorities in response exercises is undertaken. The resources held by the MCA are those commensurate with a Tier 3 national response requirement as described within the National Contingency Plan for Pollution from Shipping and Offshore Installations.

Motorway Service Areas: Charging Points

Lord Birt: To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of motorway service stations have a grid connection sufficient to power six rapid or ultra-rapid chargepoints for electric vehicles.

Lord Davies of Gower: The Department does not hold data on which motorway service areas (MSAs) in England have a grid connection which is sufficient to specifically power six or more ultra-rapid chargepoints.

Department for Work and Pensions

Employment: Poverty

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to (1) tackle in-work poverty, and (2) create more job opportunities across the UK.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: The Government believes that work is the best way to boost living standards and reduce poverty. Jobcentres across Great Britain provide personalised interventions to support those both in and out of work, including helping low-paid earners to increase their earnings. We are also making work pay. On 1 April 2024, the Government will increase the National Living Wage (NLW) for workers aged 21 years and over by 9.8% to £11.44 per hour, representing an increase of over £1,800 to the gross annual earnings of a full-time worker on the NLW. Ensuring a strong economy with a diverse and vibrant jobs market allows everyone to use their talents to the full.

Household Support Fund

Baroness Scott of Needham Market: To ask His Majesty's Government whether there have been any consultations with local authorities, charities, and community organisations regarding the impact of terminating the Household Support Fund; and if so, whether they intend to publish the responses.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: The current Household Support Fund runs from April 2023 until the end of March 2024. The government continues to keep all its existing programmes under review in the usual way.We engage regularly with local authorities during their ongoing delivery of the current Household Support Fund. Ministers and officials also frequently engage with a range of stakeholders on areas relevant to the work of the Department.

Household Support Fund

Baroness Scott of Needham Market: To ask His Majesty's Government what contingency plans are in place to address the potential increase in demand for services such as food banks in the event of the discontinuation of the Household Support Fund after March 2024.

Viscount Younger of Leckie: The current Household Support Fund runs from April 2023 until the end of March 2024, and the government continues to keep all its existing programmes under review in the usual way. The Government is putting significant additional support in place for those on the lowest incomes from April. Subject to Parliamentary approval, working age benefits will rise by 6.7% while the Basic and New State Pensions will be uprated by 8.5% in line with earnings, as part of the ‘triple lock”. To further support low-income households with increasing rent costs, the government will raise Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of local market rents, benefitting 1.6m low-income households by on average £800 a year in 24/25. Additionally, the Government will increase the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 years and over by 9.8% to £11.44 representing an increase of over £1,800 to the gross annual earnings of a full-time worker on the National Living Wage.

Ministry of Defence

Afghanistan: Refugees

Lord Sedwill: To ask His Majesty's Government how many members of Afghanistan’s Commando Force 333 have been admitted to the UK under the various Afghan resettlement schemes (1) in 2021–22, and (2) since July 2022.

The Earl of Minto: In 2021, around 8,000 Afghans were relocated to the UK under Afghan resettlement schemes administered by the Ministry of Defence to the UK. Since July 2022, around 5,300 were relocated. Unfortunately, it is not possible to provide a breakdown of individuals relocated to the UK under ARAP by job role.Figures covering Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) applicants will need to be provided by the Home Office.